Half Wylde | Book 1

Nine: The Wyldes

Eberon led the way through the mountains and Puko flew overhead or sat on my shoulder. I abandoned my sled to the outpost and carried all my belongings on my back and an axe on each hip. It wasn't heavy, considering I no longer hauled all that food around with me. I actually had very little, and it allowed me to enjoy the walking.

Back home there were at least a few recognizable trails, however faint. Here there wasn't anything at all. I watched my steps, but where we sank into thicker woods down the slope I had a hard time keeping up. Eberon, for all his fine clothes and neat hair, was as much a part of the mountains as the towering pines were. He didn't stumble, he avoided every branch, and he picked his way through the trees as easily as if a road was laid out before him. If that's what it meant to be full fae, I had to admit I was a little jealous.

"Wren, come here. I want to show you something." Eberon held a branch out of my way so I could stand next to him. Puko landed on my shoulder as I drew even with Eberon, and I grunted with the unexpected weight of the huge bird. I looked up to scold him but as my eyes hit the view below us I lost my breath.

A winding valley, greener than the mountains in bloom, swept below us like lush carpet. A crystal river cut through the hills and poured into delicate springs, feeding full dancing willows and rich wild roses. Creatures I had never even heard of grazed on the hillside, unaffected by the beauty around them. It could have been a painting and I still wouldn't believe it with my own eyes.

"Enchanting, isn't it?" Eberon spoke beside me, but I still couldn't tear my gaze from the valley.

"This is the Wyldes?" I breathed. Puko chose that moment to caw, right in my ear, and flutter off to taste the sky in front of us. A couple feathers fell gently to the ground in front of me.

"It is. Once you set foot in it, you feel it's pull every time you leave. Or perhaps that's just for those of us who were born here. You'll have to tell me sometime." He winked.

"I don't see any city that could be Thanantholl." A few tendrils of smoke indicated homes speckling the far side of the valley, but nothing that would indicate more than a few people.

"We're still in the southern borders of the Summer court, that's why it's so green unlike the late autumn we leave behind us. Here it will remain summer for as long as there is a Summer King. The unclaimed Wyldes are to the west of the river. We have several days to go before I can show you Thanantholl." Eberon began walking forward. "We finally leave the mountains behind, but we still have the foothills to cross."

"How far are we from the campsite?" It was frustrating to look away from the view so I could watch my step. Something inside me wanted to drink it all in, not look out for roots and stones underfoot.

"We'll be there in a couple hours." He grinned. Puko cawed his contentment overhead.The twisting hike down the mountainside was all the harder knowing what I was so close to. Maybe some fae part of me longed for it too. Some part that didn't start to awaken until I met Thain and the wraith. When sprigs of bright green began peeking out of the leaves on the ground, my heart skipped a beat.

"We won't have the luxury of hot water again until we reach the city, but if you'd like to take a dip in one of the springs near the camp you are more than welcome to. The current is slow and harmless and there aren't any creatures to worry about in this part of the Wyldes." Eberon offered.

I couldn't care less if I had hot water ever again. "I want to see everything."Eberon's laugh crackled like a bonfire. "This is only the Summer court. They all hold a beauty of course, but Thanantholl is by far the most wonderful place in the Wyldes."

"Are you sure that isn't a biased opinion?" I laughed. I was ready to dance and sing and live again. I still mourned Bryn, but something about the Wyldes touched me to the core. If I could ever find a home again, it would be here. The seal on my back was alive with the power of this place.